Archive for January, 2008
What is Mike Huckabee’s REAL record on homeschooling?
I posted about Mike Huckabee and homeschooling a couple days ago. I just found this video. This just solidifies my opinion.
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On Huckabee and Homeschooling
I've seen in several places lately that some feel that Mike Huckabee is not homeschool-friendly. I find it interesting that many homeschoolers in Arkansas DO like Huckabee. I was one of them (when I lived there). Recently on a message board I'm on, a current Arkansas homeschooler posted this:
BUT...I do have to say this about the homeschooling legislation referenced. The legislation that Huckabee signed that further regulated homeschoolers in Arkansas was actually legislation *supported* by most Arkansas homeschoolers. It was in response to a full-fledged attack by some very, very influential anti-homeschool people in the state who were trying to pass some very, very dangerous legislation for homeschoolers. They were very close to passing that legislation. What actually passed was a compromise bill that caused homeschoolers to have to jump through a few more hoops, but basically gave the state *no* ability to interfere with us. Our current laws are also still MUCH, MUCH better than the original homeschool laws in Arkansas, enacted in 1985. So...even though it is much touted as the legislation that made Arkansas "the first state to enact more restrictive homeschool laws," it was still seen as a good thing by most Arkansas homeschoolers.
We are still *very* unregulated...the state does not have to approve of or see *anything* we do, other than our Notice of Intent that we file once a year telling them that we are going to homeschool and giving a very basic plan. They have *no* approval or oversight power of what we do, and we don't have to turn in any individual test scores or work to them. We have to test grades 3-9 every year, but that testing is done at state expense, and NO ONE other than the parent ever sees an individual child's scores. The state gets a composite of all the homeschoolers' scores in the state. This is all still *much* better than the original homeschool law in Arkansas, and *much, much* better than what the opposition was very close to passing in 1999.
Just wanted to give another perspective on the homeschool legislation that seems to be causing such a stir.
I got permission from Jen to post this, and she said that she hopes to blog about it sometime soon.
I don't have a whole lot of time to blog or research extensively, so on THIS post I will be turning off comments simply because I'm moving this weekend and won't have time to spend on this. But I just wanted to set the record semi-straight while I have a minute.
We have a closing date!
Next Friday! And the movers will deliver our goods on Saturday. WOOHOO!!!!!
It's been a while since I updated y'all on the housing situation, so here goes:
House that was so awesome ended up STILL not being available. Whatever. We looked at another one that my dad had looked at for us forever ago. It is plenty big and in decent shape (the inspection actually PASSED). It's a tad older though, and it's just been neglected somewhat. So it needs work. We got a GREAT deal on it. The people who live in it now homeschool too - how neat is that?
We'll be redoing almost everything in the house. The only thing I can think of that we won't be changing is the fireplace LOL! Water heater, kitchen, floors, windows, you name it! Dh's job will be reimbursing us for our closing costs, so that will be our "fun money" to put back into the house. I'm excited yet overwhelmed - I am absolutely CLUELESS about decorating/remodeling! I've never had the opportunity to make choices like that before, I knew that dreaming about them would sow discontentment, so I just never thought about it. And now I actually get to! Yikes!
So in the mean time we have been living in a rental. The people who own it have designed it to be a daily rental for families who need short-term housing: child in the hospital (Ronald McDonald House here isn't done yet), house burned down, looking for a house to buy, etc. It's fully furnished - the only thing we would have needed to bring are our clothes LOL! It's small, of course, but MUCH better than a hotel!!! We are sooooooooooo thankful to have it, lemme tell ya!!!!!!! It's only about 2 miles from where our new house is too, so we're able to sort of get used to the things around here, and it will be easy to go back and forth as we move in.
We have so been enjoying living close to things again!!! In WA we lived 20 minutes from the nearest grocery store, and everything else like our doctor, dentist, church, etc. was 30-40 minutes away. That got very old! Here we are about 5-10 minutes from stores, and that's only because of traffic.
And the libraries. THE LIBRARIES!!!!!! I will have access to 5 different large library systems. Needless to say, I won't have to buy many books AT ALL next year for our history studies!!! I'll just need to stay organized LOL.
I'll try to take some pictures of our new house just as soon as possible!
And the fun begins.
R is 7 months old today. Look what she figured out how to do this past week:
“Where are all the Titus Two women?”
One common question I see often on the internet (on blogs, on message boards, you name it) is:
Where are all the Titus Two women?
Younger ladies are looking for someone to teach them what Titus 2 says they should:
Tit 2:3-5
(3) Bid the older women similarly to be reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble,
(4) So that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (temperate, disciplined) and to love their husbands and their children,
(5) To be self-controlled, chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting and subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited).They aren't seeing any in their churches or families (even Christian ones). The women that are there do not qualify.
I'm beginning to wonder if that is actually the case.
I can think of one woman in my life in the past. She is about the age of my mom, and she was one of my "moms" when we lived in Oklahoma. Her grown children serve the Lord (I believe one is a pastor???). She and her husband have been married for well over 30 years. They are both active in their church and are just LOVELY people.
However, for a long time I felt she did not "qualify" as a Titus Two woman (and I'm not talking about as a formal mentor either, just as an informal "I can learn from this woman" friendship) because:
- She worked full-time.
- Her children went to public school (when they were young enough to be in school).
- I believe her children dated.
- I can't remember specifics, but when I'd talk to her, the way she raised her children sounded very "child-centered" to my way of thinking at the time.
- They chose to only have 2 children.
And so on and so forth.
I see this ALL OVER (and have been well-entrenched in this thinking myself). Younger women bemoan the "lack of Titus Two women" based on a certain set of criteria for what that Titus Two woman should look. Nevermind the fact that as an older woman with grown children, she has, in fact, met the biblical criteria: she and her husband are still happily married, her children love the Lord, she serves the Lord, she conducts herself in a holy manner, etc. But since a woman doesn't match what WE think, we decide that she is not "Titus Two material."
Um, aren't WE supposed to be learning from THEM????
This may be a purely internet phenomenon. What I've seen is since certain local wise women are being written off, younger ladies are turning to older women they don't know on the internet. These older ladies tell them things that sound great and biblical (and I'm not saying the advice isn't), but we have no idea how the older women conduct themselves in real life. We have no idea what their grown children are like. We have no idea how happy their marriages TRULY are. What I'm afraid is happening is that we are trading what the Bible says the qualifications are of a Titus Two woman for what WE think the qualifications are. And as with any other area we think we know better than the Bible, this is dangerous ground to be walking on.
I pray that as I get to know a new group of ladies here, I will not automatically discount wise women based on what is right in my own eyes.
P.S. I'm not talking about asking a woman who never homeschooled for homeschooling advice - that wouldn't make any sense! I wouldn't ask a woman who never breastfed for latching-on advice either. LOL! I'm talking about things like marriage, child-rearing, etc. - women get discounted because the way they did it (which apparently WORKED) is different than what we think is "right."
One of my favorite things about living here
We can just go "hang out" at my dad's. Or he can come hang out at our house (when we get one
). Or we can go hang out at my sister and brother-in-law's. Or they can come hang out at our house. It's going to be so much fun having my kids get to know them all better and better (and vice versa!).
To Mark
I'm thinking you may have missed the point of my Pottersville post. I do feel sorry for the people who have been lied to by dishonest real estate agents and greedy banks. The person who is currently under contract (sort of) should never have been approved for a loan to begin with. I will not share their details on my blog since it's not our situation, but yes, part of the blame is on all the banks involved.
That is the point of my post. The banks screwed up and loaned money to people who couldn't afford it. My dad has even said that he suspects that many of the people who are being foreclosed upon couldn't speak English and had been taken advantage of by unscrupulous agents. And now on THIS side of the mess, the banks are overwhelmed and/or dragging their feet somewhat, so for just the "regular folks," we can't seem to buy a house, even though we can afford it and there are many on the market.
The home we are trying to buy was not the home of someone who had been lied to by the bank. Their home was not taken away from them. It was an investment property. Please don't assume and accuse others of things. You know what they say happens when you assume....
Mark, it seems that you have some sort of bitterness eating away at you. I'm not sure what has happened in your life, and whatever it is, I'm sorry that it happened to you. I'm praying that the Lord will enable you to let go of whatever it is.
